Meditation wasn’t designed to heal early psychological wounds, explains Debra Flics. She cautions us not to look to it as a replacement for psychotherapy. Many Westerners, when they come to dharma practice, come looking for psychological healing—but this is not what meditation was designed to do. As meditation has become mainstream, it has been marketed as a way to address [...]
Mental Health Archives
Please note that these articles are not intended to provide treatment options for those who may suffer from clinical depression or other forms of mental illness.
Thank You, Michael
Carina Stone on the tragic death of her husband, the Buddhist teacher Michael Stone, the challenges he faced, and the gifts he gave. I arrived at Michael’s emergency room bedside in the dark early hours of July 14. As he lay in a coma, the first words I could find were Thank you. Too much brain damage. Too much swelling. Heart in shock. I studied him, looking for the [...]
You’re Basically Good — The Benefits of Contemplative Psychotherapy
Karen Kissel Wegela on therapy that starts with your basic sanity, not your neuroses. Elliot knew from our first session together that I saw him as basically a good person. As he remembered it later, he had told me his personal saga of relationship and work failures, and he expected I would conclude, as he had, that he was pretty hopeless. Instead, I said something like, [...]
I Want to Tell You About Coming Apart and Struggling Through Depression
A moving account by Susan Moon of her journey back from depression, and how her Buddhist practice both helped and hindered her. Although I suffered from severe depression, I didn't call it that for most of the several years I was in and out of it. I thought depression was for lethargic people who stayed in bed all day. But my pain was as sharp as an ice pick. Restless in [...]
How does a meditator deal with episodes of major depression?
Question: How does a meditator deal with episodes of major depression? Narayan Helen Liebenson: Major depression is one of the more difficult situations one can encounter. My experience is that meditation can be beneficial, if practiced under the supervision of a skilled therapist or teacher. I recommend The Mindful Way through Depression by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, [...]
The Right Way to Kill Yourself
Zen teacher Brad Warner on the time he considered suicide—and the different kind of death he chose. I didn’t really know Tyler, but a lot of my friends did. And they were pretty sad when he killed himself last year. That led people to ask me—not for the first time—what the Buddhist view on suicide is. I gave the same answer I give when I’m asked about the Buddhist view on [...]
Now that I’m doing Buddhist meditation, should I give up therapy?
I’m in psychotherapy and it’s been very helpful to me. Now that I’ve started doing Buddhist meditation, I’m wondering if I should give up therapy. Is meditation all I need to deal with my issues? This is something that’s hotly debated in the Buddhist world. Purists say that the wisdom and compassion we develop in meditation is all we need because it addresses our suffering [...]
Waking Up Bipolar
Chris Cole's first psychotic break was a religious experience. Many years later, he learned that recovery meant understanding his bipolar disorder medically as well as spiritually. I was an eighteen-year-old freshman, one month into a summer semester at the University of Georgia. I wanted to get to school early, mostly because I was sick of getting grounded for my drinking. [...]
Over and Over Again
What happens when negative thought patterns are taken to the extreme? Matt Bieber on his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and how Buddhist practice helps. According to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, to be enlightened is to be free of obsessions. Given that I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, I usually feel very far from that ideal. Thanks to practice, though, I have [...]
Is Western Psychology Redefining Buddhism?
Jack Kornfield, Judy Lief, and Bodhin Kjolhede examine the influence of Western psychology on Buddhism. Introduction by Ajahn Amaro. Late autumn 1974, I am sitting in a lecture room of the University of London. It is my first term as an undergraduate studying psychology and physiology, and we are being introduced to the teachings of Freud. At a certain point, the lecturer [...]
